Yerevan? Where did it go?

I'm sorry to say this but we hardly spent anytime in Armenia at all. We had about 6 days total and realized that 6 days just wasn't enough to see much more than Yerevan, so we stayed there the whole time as the only guests in a REALLY nice hostel. However we did have a lot of fun.

One day we went took a trip out of the city to visit Echmadzine, the Vatican of Armenian Orthodoxy. It was really nice, if a little small, and had a wonderful museum housing numerous pieces of the church's treasury. Some of the things that caught our attention: a piece of Noah's Ark from the top of Mt Ararat, the spear the Roman centurion pierce the side of Jesus with, and a piece of wood from the cross. Now, I'm not sure how anyone can believe these things are legit but there is certainly something about them that makes you smile. The tradition in believing is beautiful.

Another day Jeremy took me on a date and we went to see Giselle (a ballet). It was my first ballet and though a little slow at times, it was really nice. I hope I have many more chances to attend ballets in the future. :)

We also visited the Mt Ararat Bandy Company and took a really cool tour through their factory. Interestingly, every head of state to visit their factory is given a barrel of their own brandy which they can remove at anytime. Then we went and tasted their brandys aged 5, 10 and 20 years. This was also a first for me and I guess it tasted good but wow! It was strong! I hardly sipped much of any of the three! But we did find that chocolate was a great thing to eat along side the Brandy (a nice reprieve since we made a vow not to eat anymore candy after leaving Azerbaijan).

One of the last things we did was visit the Armenian Genocide Memorial and Museum--a very humbling tourist attraction. I honestly knew pretty much nothing about it except that Chirac had made it illegal in France to deny the genocide (which upset Turkey). It was really sad to see the photos and read the letters of prisoners, escapees, orphanes, missionaries, foreign dignitaries, and eye witnesses of the holocaust-like events. The above photo is of the eternal flame which stands amidt 12 pillars representing the 12 states lost to Turkey in the conflict.

And around the side, carnations and roses were laid.

Hopefully I will have a chance to return someday to this lovely city and country. The people were great, the food nice, the scenery unsurpassable, the churches inspiring.